Semiconductor and other types of electronic devices are often encapsulated wholly or partly in plastic resin to provide environmental protection and facilitate external connection to the devices. For convenience of explanation and not intended to be limiting, the present invention is described for semiconductor devices, but persons of skill in the art will understand that the present invention applies to any type of electronic device that is substantially planar. Accordingly, such other types of devices including the non-limiting examples given below, are intended to be included in the terms “device”, “semiconductor device” and “integrated circuit” whether singular or plural, and the terms “device”, “die” and “chip” are intended to be substantially equivalent. Non-limiting examples of suitable devices are semiconductor integrated circuits, individual semiconductor devices, piezoelectric devices, magnetostrictive devices, solid state filters, magnetic tunneling structures, integrated passive devices such as capacitors, resistors and inductors, and combinations and arrays of any and all of these types of devices and elements. Further, the present invention does not depend upon the types of die or chips being used nor the materials of which they are constructed provided that such materials withstand the encapsulation process.
Certain types of electronic devices are intended to be only partly encapsulated so that their electrical contacts, for example the bonding pads on the partially enclosed die or chips are still exposed after encapsulation. The rear faces and edges of the die or chips may be covered by the encapsulation but the primary contact faces of the die or chips are not intended to be covered by the encapsulation. They are intended to remain encapsulation free so that external electrical connections can be made thereon after the encapsulation process. Unfortunately, it is sometimes happens, that during encapsulation of the rear faces and/or edges of the die or chips, the encapsulation resin leaks onto these primary contact faces and onto some of the bonding pads, thereby interfering with subsequent connections. This is referred to as “resin bleed” and can reduce the manufacturing yield and increases the cost of producing such partially encapsulated assemblies or panels. Thus, there is an ongoing need for improved structures and methods which avoid or minimize such problems.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide packaging arrangements and methods for semiconductor and other types of electronic devices that avoid or mitigate the adverse effects of resin bleed during encapsulation. It is further desirable that the packaging is suitable for use with arrays containing multiple devices and/or multiple types of devices and especially device arrays, where it is desired that the primary faces of the devices are available for electrical connections thereto after the devices are fixed in the encapsulation. In addition, it is desirable that the methods, materials and structures employed be compatible with present day manufacturing capabilities and materials and not require substantial modifications of manufacturing procedures or substantially increase manufacturing costs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.